Tori Kelly collaborated with Jimmy Napes, best known for co-writing Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” on her urgent new single “Change Your Mind.” The singer’s September album, Hiding Place, was a gospel record, but she transitions back to the secular here: “He spoke to me like the rain/I knew that I would have to see him again/And as he poured out his heart on me/I was a moth to a flame.”
“Change Your Mind” is acoustic and unhurried. Swelling pianos and massed backing vocals serve to push the song towards a climax. Kelly is known for her forceful singing style, and the bare arrangement allows her to hurl her voice around.
Kelly’s last secular album, Unbreakable Smile, came out in 2015. It spawned three different hit singles, all of which cracked the Hot 100, and eventually earned a platinum certification. Hiding Place did not enjoy the same mass appeal, but it did earn an audience in the gospel community: “Help Us to Love,” a collaboration with the HamilTones, and “Never Alone,” with Kirk Franklin, both became gospel hits.
Kelly embarks on 26-date tour starting February 25th.